|
FirParkCorner FC kick started their league season with a narrow win away to a much improved Falkirk side.
The 'Corner started the match in a sluggish fashion and it was no surprise that they soon found themselves a goal down. With captain Gavin Hepworth missing, the makeshift defence failed to deal with a high ball, with Cunningham and Speedie both guilty of failing to clear their lines, leaving a home striker with a simple finish.
This seemed to give the visitors the boost they were so badly needing, and they should have had a man advantage minutes later as Darryn Alexander was chopped down at the edge of the penalty area with only the goalkeeper to beat. The referee awarded the freekick and, just as everyone was expecting to see the red card, the whistler backed down from a contraversial decision and flashed a yellow one instead. Dave Hendry tamely hit the resultant freekick straight at the wall as the Motherwell side were left feeling aggreived.
Driven on by a sense of injustice, FPC started to dominate, and stunned the Bairns with three quick-fire goals. The first came as a result of some nice play by Dave Hendry on the left. His perfect cross was met at the front post by Darryn Alexander who headed past the helpless goalkeeper.
Moments later, the 'Corner snatched the lead. This time, goalscorer turned provider as Alexander neatly cut back to hand Ross Galloway a simple finish at the back post. The visitors completed their scoring almost instantly as last season's top goalscorer Joe Lynas poked home from close range after some more excellent link-up play in the midfield.
The second half was a different story. The home side were much brighter out of the traps and it took a good save from Graeme Farmer to sustain his side's two goal cushion. As the Falkirk lads began to pile on the pressure, they did grab a goal back with twenty minutes still to play, with a striker supplying a neat finish when sent one-on-one with Farmer.
Despite relentless pressure, which saw the home goalkeeper in the visitor's penalty box, FPC held firm with some excellent defending, although it did take one more excellent stop from Graeme Farmer to keep the three points heading back to Motherwell.
All in all, a good start to the season against a rejuvinated Falkirk side. Three points in any form is all the manager can be looking for with the first game of the season and he'll be hoping that they can provide the same at home to PSJ next week.
Team: Farmer, Ramage, Mitchell, Cunningham, Clark, O'Neill, Galloway, Alexander, Speedie, Lynas, Hendry.
Braes Bairns 2 FirParkCorner FC 3
Find out more about FirParkCorner FC here.